Advancing Government Legitimacy through the Scientific Study of Sentience. Issue 5 (4th July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Freeling, Benjamin S.; Connell, Sean D.
• Is Part Of: World futures. Volume 77:Issue 5(2021)
• Page Start: 395
• Page End: 404
• Publication Date: 2021-07-04
• Subjects: Animal rights -- consciousness -- legislation -- moral circle -- rights of nature; Philosophy -- Periodicals; Forecasting -- Periodicals; 303
• DOI: 10.1080/02604027.2021.1944732
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0260-4027

Abstract

Abstract: The ongoing crises in environment and public health have uncovered an opportunity for innovation. Yet, if we are serious about improving the human and more-than-human natural worlds, societies and institutions need a new mindset. One potential mindset is offered by the emerging science of animal sentience, defined as the capacity to feel emotion, pleasure and pain. The study of sentience has revealed a contradiction at the heart of government legitimacy, and a solution. This solution provides a vision of a society where the interests of all sentient organisms are enshrined in our institutions, providing a more robust and sustainable society.